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Innspa
This page may be a Stub or not include some information. For a full article on the topic with citations, please see ' ' at Greyhawkonline.com. Innspa lies about 5 miles from the western fringe of the Adri Forest. Only he citys "Old Town" is walled while rest of the city is not. Names comes from the bubing springs in Flinty Hills, baths and all the hostels, taverns and inns. It has also a large number of religious buildings from small shrines to cathedrals. Description Innspa is not a walled city, the old town is walled with the rest of the city built around it. Most houses are built of stone, and many reveal the handiwork of dwarven or gnomish stonemasons -- though demihumans are very rare here now. The old town houses about 2,500 people, and contains Karasin's palace, the barracks of Levialen's Innspa Regiment, and the richer, skilled workers and petty aristocracy of the city. Rulership is high within the old town, medium elsewhere. Goods are expensive (cost multiplier 180%) and are often in short supply. Innspa has two exceptional features. One is the series of stone aqueducts of gnomish design which bring fresh water from the Flinty Hills. The other is the splendidly ornate public baths with their idiosyncratic bill of fare: a quick swim and bathe in the "tepid water" baths costs but 1 cp. For the aristocracy, 2 gp buys a foaming hot water bath with herbal infusions and allegedly medicinal mineral salts together with all the hot towels and soap one can use. They were built in CY 322 by an eccentric wizard obsessed with personal hygiene, and the fire elemental he bound to heat the waters is still at work here. History Innspa was found around CY 200 by Gnomes and Dwarves exploiting ores and minerals of the Flinty Hills.They called it called it Nonisburg. At the end of the third century, it was given to House Garasteth as a fief by Overking Edron. Thirty years later an eccentric wizard obsessed with personal hygiene built the first public bath and the gnomes finished work on the first aqueduct, intended to bring fresh water from the Flinty Hills. Innspa is a unique city in Aerdy. It has been part of Nyrond, Almor, and North Province in its history. For the past 35 years or so, it had become virtually the personal fief of Prince Corazell of the House of Garasteth. His House had bought Innspa from the Crandens centuries ago when the city was but a small mining village and turned it into a trade city, dealing in ores from the Flinty Hills, food from Nyrond, timber from the Adri and fish from the river. During changes of nation, Innspa stayed much the same, a cosmopolitan city where all races and alignments mixed and intermingled. Corazell died without issue, and while one or two of his male brothers and cousins have turned up to take possession of the city, they have met their match in the fierce Countess Karasin, Corazell's widow. She is cunning and crafty. Since Corazell died in the wars, she says that she holds this city in a form of royal trust in his memory. No mind that Prince Corazell died from a brain hemorrhage brought on by ingesting staggering amounts of brandy. Karasin proclaims him a war hero and will not give up his lands. Indeed, she has proclaimed ownership of a swathe of land stretching from the eastern bank of the small western Harp tributary as far northwards as the point where the river enters the southern Griff Mountains. Of course, Karasin has little control over these lands. Those to the north are overrun by humanoids. She has a pact of sorts with the Bone March orcs, and proclaims them administrators of the northern lands beyond the forested hills. She has little choice, but this pact discourages Hastern of Edge Field from setting his covetous eyes in that direction. Her western lands are mostly prowled by disorganized defectors of the Aerdy armies involved in the sack of Almor. Many deserted from that campaign, and many were driven blind, deranged, or force to run shrieking in fear when fiends bestrode the plains of that land. Remnants of ragtag armies wander those lands, sometimes crossing the Harp's small tributary to enter northern Almor. All this leaves Karasin in control of Innspa and just enough surrounding land to keep the 10,500 people of the city from starvation, subsisting on the fish of the Harp and some grain from outlying farms, almost all of which have a garrison of Karasin's troops stationed in their barns. Trade is rare now; the Flinty Hills gnomes and miners have long gone, and little Adri produce flows through Innspa -- although from time to time some goods come along the forest trail from Elversford. This trade route might carry more cargo, which would benefit both Innspa and Elversford, if only Karasin would ally with the Adri folk. However, she foolishly lays formal claim to the lands around Elversford and all Adri lands west of the Harp River, so that alliance is stillborn. Innspa would appear a natural place for some noble intriguer or petty warlord to overrun. There are two good reasons why Karasin holds to power here. First, she is known to be on excellent terms with Prince Strychan of Dustbridge, sharing his black sense of humor and exquisitely debauched pleasures. Strychan is not a man many would oppose. Secondly, Karasin is herself a sinister and dangerous woman.Karasin's family (minor landholders south of Atirr) has been rumored for centuries to have vampires and necromancers among their number, and to have magics available to them which slow even the appearance of the passage of years. She is known to possess many magical scrying items, some of which can penetrate even powerful magical defenses (such as amulets of protection against detection and location, mind blank spells, and more). Karasin knows too much about too many powerful people for them to take a chance on having her assassinated and seizing her lands. So, Karasin remains in control, for the time being. She seeks alliances, however, and her friendship with Strychan reveals her basically opportunistic nature. She allies with whoever she thinks will come out on top. Her own military leaders include the formidable General Levialen, a commander of the army which decimated Almor. He will never forgive Ivid for the pointless destruction of Chathold ("By the Powers, I could have looted millions of gold if that fool of an overking had let me besiege the place!"). And he favors Strychan's claim to the malachite throne. Karasin and Levialen are currently trying to negotiate an alliance between Strychan and Montand of Delaric, with Karasin hoping to sell the deal to the eastern Garasteth nobles. In this way, Naelax would keep the throne, but Garasteth would benefit as well, perhaps displacing Darmen as the second house of the lands. Needless to say, the House of Darmen is well aware of this, and they have spies and agents within Innspa and even at Karasin's court. Notable Locations * Innspa Aqueducts References